 Urban livestock keeping is an important and integral part of cities in many tropical
and developing countries, where it ensures highly nutritious food on urban markets
and provides inhabitants with livelihood options (Herrero et al., 2013; De Zeeuw and
Drechsel, 2015). However, there are also risks associated to livestock keeping that
should not be neglected.
 A systematic review indicated an association between agricultural intensification
and an increased risk of human disease (Jones et al., 2013).
 Mosquito-related diseases, are constituting an increasing threat to human health
globally, especially in tropical and developing countries (World Health Organization,
2014). Whereas livestock is increasing in the growing cities, mosquitoes also are
adapting and finding urban breeding habitats.
 There has so far not been any infection with Zika virus in Hanoi, but dengue fever is
emerging as an endemic disease. In 2017, Hanoi witnessed the largest dengue
outbreak ever in both urban and rural districts with nearly 38,000 cases and 7 deaths.
In addition, 9 cases of Japanese Encephalitis were reported (Hanoi Preventive
Medicine Center, 2017).
 Since 2008, after merging areas of surrounding provinces; Hanoi city, now called
“Great Hanoi”, is in rapid progress of urbanization. The livestock in Hanoi was diverse
and numerous with approximately 160.000 cattle, 1.6 million pigs and 23 million
poultry in 2016 (GSO, 2016). Besides the advantages for high value animal-source
food products; livestock keeping is potentially increasing the risk for human infections
with vector-borne pathogens.
 This study attempts to increase the understanding of urban disease epidemiology in
urban districts of Hanoi city where multiple vector-borne diseases are occurring
simultaneously, and to an improved understanding on how urban livestock is
contributing to these risks.
MOTIVATION PROPOSED MATERIALS AND METHODS
REFERENCES
 GSO (2016) Statistical Yearbook of Viet Nam 2016.
 Hanoi Preventive Medicine Center (2017) Report on communicable disease control in Hanoi in 2017. Hanoi.
 Herrero, M., Grace, D., Njuki, J., Johnson, N., Enahoro, D., Silvestri, S. and Rufino, M. C. (2013) ‘The roles of livestock in
developing countries’, Animal : an international journal of animal bioscience. Cambridge University Press, 7(s1), pp. 3–18. doi:
10.1017/s1751731112001954.
 Jones, B. A., Grace, D., Kock, R., Alonso, S., Rushton, J., Said, M. Y., McKeever, D., Mutua, F., Young, J., McDermott, J. and Pfeiffer,
D. U. (2013) ‘Zoonosis emergence linked to agricultural intensification and environmental change’, Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences , 110(21), pp. 8399–8404. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1208059110.
 Seyoum, A., Balcha, F., Balkew, M., Ali, A. and Gebre-Michael, T. (2002) ‘Impact of cattle keeping on human biting rate of
anopheline mosquitoes and malaria transmission around Ziway, Ethiopia’, East African Medical Journal, pp. 485–490. doi:
10.4314/eamj.v79i9.9121.
 World Health Organization (2014) A global brief on vector-borne diseases, World Health Organization. doi:
WHO/DCO/WHD/2014.1.
 De Zeeuw, H. and Drechsel, P. (2015) Cities and Agriculture: Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems. Available at:
https://books.google.com/books?hl=es&lr=&id=2O6PCgAAQBAJ&pgis=1 (Accessed: 19 November 2015).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our special thanks to International Livestock Research Institute and Uppsala
University, Sweden for technical assistance and financial support in this research project.
* Correspondence: Thang Tien Nguyen, International Livestock Research Institute, Building B1, Van Phuc
Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Viet Nam.
Component 1: Knowledge, attitudes and practices among urban inhabitants in
regard to risks and benefits of urban agriculture, and the current knowledge on
mosquito-borne disease transmission
 Conduct a cross-sectional study to interview randomly-selected urban households
with and without livestock to explore how livestock-keeping is associated with the
presence of mosquitoes. Household owners will be interviewed about their
knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding urban livestock keeping, and
what economic benefits they obtain, compared to the risks and their knowledge
about mosquito-borne diseases using a structured questionnaire.
 Use participatory-mixed methods to interview with stakeholders, policy makers and
health personnel.
Component 2: The distribution of mosquitoes and Flaviviruses present in urban
mosquitoes and its relationship to livestock keeping.
 This component focuses on the urban epidemiology of vector-borne vectors and
flaviviruses, including dengue virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and Zika virus.
Within mapped sections of the cities, households will be randomly selected for
screening for disease vectors.
 Both households with livestock, next-door neighbours, and households with no
contact with livestock will be included. Adult mosquitoes will be collected close to
human habitats as well as close to animal farms using CDC light traps, and larvae
will be collected from potential breeding grounds (pots, stagnant water in trash,
ponds etc).
 Livestock in the same households will be sampled for screening of antibodies.
Samples of mosquitoes collected at the households, as well as samples from the
livestock will be analysed using Flavivirus multiplex PCRs, Luminex-based assays and
ELISAs for simultaneous detection of viral RNA and Flavivirus-specific antibodies
respectively.
Component 3: Risk factors from livestock keeping of febrile patients in health centers
 Potential risk factors for urban transmission will be identified by collaborations with
local health centres. Blood samples will be collected from febrile patients
consenting to be part of the study and willing to answer a questionnaire about risk
factors. The samples will be screened using the multiplex PCR, and their households
will be investigated to identify risk factors and for sampling of potential mosquito
vectors and livestock, which will be tested as in Component 2.
Component 4: An intervention for reduction of mosquito vectors in urban livestock
farms
 To identify the most promising, cost-efficient and sustainable methods for
controlling mosquitoes and reduce the risk for disease transmission through
literature review.
 Pilot them in urban households, and assess how efficient and sustaining the
methods are in an urban setting, and how they are perceived by the members of
the households.
 Areas of the city will be randomly selected into controls and trial groups, and the
households that participated in the screening for vectors will be followed up during
the trial period. Participatory methods will be used to assess the feasibility of
interventions, and the previous experiences. In the trial group, surrounding
households will also be invited for training on the intervention to achieve a peer
encouragement, and the households will subsequently be followed for one year,
with visits after 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively, to study the following: 1)
Compliance and sustainability of the method chosen, 2) Effects on vector
population, and animal and human health, and 3) Perception of the household.
(1) International Livestock Research Institute
(2) Uppsala University
Thang Tien NGUYEN 1*, Long Thanh PHAM1, Hung Viet Nguyen1, Åke Lundkvist2, Johanna LINDAHL1,2
The association between livestock keeping and mosquito-borne diseases in
urban areas in Hanoi city, Vietnam